


untitled merman/prince AU

by tigriswolf



Series: unfinisheds [34]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Escape, Gen, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:24:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9851597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: There is story that is told in the kingdom by the shore, the kingdom of the sea.  There was a prince once, so the story goes, and he fell in love with the daughter of the waves—Oh, but that’s not the truth of it, you know…[will never be finished]





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally inspired by fanart and a couple comment_fic prompts. It's never gonna be finished. 
> 
> http://knightchanges.tumblr.com/post/142085492253/au-mermaid-louis
> 
> http://allthreeplease.tumblr.com/post/144195281230/it-was-an-odd-thing-for-a-mermaid-to-love-fire#post-notes
> 
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/563412.html?thread=79271124#t79271124  
> any, any, The Sea Enchants Me (or maybe it's just you) 
> 
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/731912.html?thread=96651784#t96651784  
> Any, any Mermaid, the calm of the waves

_There is story that is told in the kingdom by the shore, the kingdom of the sea. There was a prince once, so the story goes, and he fell in love with the daughter of the waves—_

_Oh, but that’s not the truth of it, you know…_

 

When Prince Louis is seven, his tutor takes him down the seashore while Mummy has an argument with Grandfather. They’re trailed by Louis’ bodyguards, as Mr. Ethan tells Louis about ships reading the sky and traveling beyond the edge of the world. Louis has always loved the ocean. 

When Prince Louis is seven, his tutor and bodyguards are found dead on the shore and he disappears. 

…

Harry hears about the sea-witch not long after he first visits the surface. After Niall rambles on for most of the morning, he finally realizes that telling Harry about a corner of the realm he’s not supposed to visit was a bad idea and he yelps, “Harry, don’t you dare!” but it’s too late. 

“Don’t worry, Niall,” Harry says brightly. “Of course I won’t go see the witch.” 

Niall’s tailfins droop and his ears flick down. “I don’t believe you,” he mutters. Harry just laughs. 

.

“What are you doing, Harry?” Gemma asks as Harry packs a small lunch. She’s studying for one of her classes (history, maybe? she was muttering about the other side of ocean earlier) and is in charge for the day because Mum is away at Court, counseling the Queen about some incursions from the south, and Robin is on an ambassador mission to the west, hoping for allies. They’re both very important folk, Mum and Robin. 

“Niall and I are going on an adventure,” Harry tells Gemma, smiling. 

Gemma narrows her eyes. “And where is this adventure?” she demands, sitting up. She hasn’t trusted him since he almost got eaten by that squid when he swam too deep. If Niall hadn’t panicked and turned back—

Well. Harry’s not a baby anymore. He knows when something’s too much for him. 

“You know the rainbow coral?” he asks. Gemma nods. “We saw a new thing over there, so we’re gonna check it out.” 

She looks from her book to him and back. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she finally says. 

“I promise,” he lies.

.

By the time Harry and Niall set out, lunch bags looped over their shoulders, Niall is appropriately excited because he’s convinced himself his brother was lying about the witch. 

They chatter on about Prince Liam, who’s to begin courting a bride once the incursion problem is resolved, and about school, about Niall going to work with his mum harvesting pearls or with his dad training the royal mounts, about Harry shadowing Mum and Dad when things settle down, about the bullies who think Harry’s talent is useless and Niall’s odd. 

Niall’s talent, Harry thinks but never says, does at least have a purpose. Being able to breathe out of the water has _so many_ applications, even if the small minds of their peers can’t see it. But Harry’s—not even Professor Tyla, the historian who researches talents, understands Harry’s. It’s called _fire_ , and it’s a surface thing. They have records of human vessels on fire before they sink below the waves but Harry has only ever been able to create it inside a bubble Gemma formed around him. 

Fire, Harry has realized, does not live in the water. So it is truly useless. 

“But it’s unique!” Niall says, drifting closer to brush their sidefins together. 

“It is,” Harry agrees, and then says, “D’ya think that exam next week will be tricky?” 

Thankfully, Niall lets the conversation move on. It isn’t until they pass the rainbow coral, the border of the city, that they stop for lunch, and the conversation never really picks back up. 

“He said it’d be near here,” Niall says once they’ve swam further from the border than they ever have before. 

Harry shivers in excitement. Niall’s tail droops slightly and Harry pulls away, darting around and looking for something frightening. “This is gonna be so much fun!” he says. 

“This is a mistake,” Niall mutters but he follows Harry. 

.

“Hullo, boys!” an old merwoman calls so they both whirl around. “What are ya doin’ way out here?” 

She looks translucent, stretched; her tail is bone-white, her stringy hair near see-through. They haven’t seen anyone in an age and for the first time, Harry feels some apprehension. 

“We’re just explorin’,” he says, pulling on the charm that works for all adults who aren’t his mum. 

She smiles, revealing the sharpest teeth Harry’s seen on a mer. Niall drifts closer, their tailfins tangling. “Don’t you lie to me,” she laughs. “You’re lookin’ for the Sea Witch.” 

“We’re late,” Harry says. “We, we should start swimmin’ back.” 

Her smile widens. “You’ve swum into my garden, dears. There is no swimming out.” 

. 

He’ll think, later, that he heard Niall shout something. Then there was quiet, darkness. For how long, he isn’t sure, not then. But he opens his eyes, can hear a current, and he’s in a room full of empty cages, surrounded by dark walls.

“What?” he mumbles, trying to push at the bars with hands that are tingling, stiff. His tail barely reacts when he tries to thrash it. His gills hurt and his skin aches a little, which is possibly the oddest thing he’s ever felt. 

“Y’ve got to wait for it to wear off,” a soft voice says and he finds that he can move his head a little, enough to see a mer about his age looking at him with a pretty purple tail that seems so bright compared to the cave walls. “It’ll pass,” the boy continues, slowly swimming over, his dark eyes on Harry. 

“Can you let me out?” Harry asks, moving his fingers and shuddering at the tingling sensation. “Please? And Niall, where’s Niall?” He looks past the boy, to the cages. They’re all empty. 

“I can’t,” the boy says. “M’sorry. She caught me a long time ago.” 

Harry brings his gaze back to the boy, to his sad eyes. Something flashes so Harry looks at the boy’s hands, at the fins on his forearm—there’s something wrong with them. A marking carved into them. 

The boy pushes away from the cage. “I’ll be back with some food,” he says. “And your friend, he’s fine, like you.” As he turns to swim away, he glances over his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” 

Harry watches him go, confused and distraught and so frightened. But he can’t do anything until the whatever—spell? potion?—wears off, and being so frightened he can’t think won’t help matters. So he settles in to wait for the boy to come back with food. 

His mind drifts along the current, to Gemma. How long has it been? Will she have told someone? Is anyone looking? 

If they’re searching the rainbow coral—but he can’t think of that. What he _can_ do is study his surroundings and make a plan. It’s his fault they’re in this mess, so it’s his job to get them out. 

So he starts with his cage, slowly spinning to examine every last piece of it, every few moments clenching his fingers, shifting his arms, slowly arching his spine, flaring his tail. By the time all of the tingling is gone and his gills settle, he’s examined the cages on all sides of him, none of which are filled, and the boy is back with a large shell full of something jiggly. 

“Best not to ask,” he says as he scoops some into his hand. He tries smiling and it’s hesitant, wary. “Please don’t attack me.” 

Harry sighs and slowly holds out his hand for the gloop. He’s ravenous but the stuff is vile, and he eats it anyway, until the shell is empty. “What’s your name?” he asks before the boy swims away. 

“Zayn,” he says. And then, “Please don’t tell me yours.” He doesn’t look back this time and Harry waits until he’s gone to begin experimenting with pulling at the bars of the cage. 

.

Zayn feeds him four more times before Harry thinks to try his talent. It’s never really worked right, except in that bubble Gemma made—but he’s never _needed_ it before. He can’t fit between the bars and none are loose but if fire has destroyed human vessels… 

“What does she want us for?” he asks Zayn the next time Zayn comes with the gloop. 

Zayn shakes his head.

“Please,” Harry begs. “How many others are there? At least tell me that.” 

Zayn’s hands are trembling, the one holding the shell and the one offering Harry food. “Six,” Zayn mutters. “Including you, there’re six.” 

“Are you included?” Harry asks but Zayn doesn’t say anything else, just swims away once the shell is empty. 

It’s so quiet. The current hums but Zayn is the only interaction he’s had. He’s slept some, though not at all well. His body is sore from lack of movement. He’s frustrated, and he’s frightened, but more than anything, he’s _angry_. 

He’s got hours ‘til Zayn comes back. He shuffles around so that his hands and face are at the bottom of the cage, pressing his tail against the ceiling to stay in place, and he tries to summon the fire. 

.

The fire doesn’t come. Harry rights himself and slumps against the bars, all of him trembling. Zayn eventually arrives with food but Harry ignores him. 

He _knows_ the fire is there. He hasn’t tried to use it in ages but it _has_ to be there. He just has to find the way to unlock it. Professor Carin had taught them all to meditate, to find where their talents lived inside them but Harry had always gotten distracted before reaching the end of his current. 

However, he has absolutely nothing else to do. He sighs, glancing at the bar his fingers are wrapped around, and then he closes his eyes and tries to _feel_ the fire. Tries to sink into himself.

“What’re you doin’?!” he hears and his eyes fly open. 

The first thing he notices is that the water around his hand is boiling and that three of the bars are half gone. His gaze flies to Zayn, who looks horrified, and then he shoves his head through, contorting his shoulders to fit, ignoring the burn on his skin and scales, the way one of his sidefins tears. 

“Stop it!” Zayn shouts but then Harry is out and swimming away as fast he can. “Stop!” Zayn shouts again but Harry is down the corridor, darting into each doorway, hoping it’s the way free. 

There are so many rooms full of empty cages. Five others, Zayn had said—where are they? Where’s Niall? He’d shout for him but doesn’t dare. How large is this horrible cave? Finally, he ducks into an alcove, sinks to the floor, and listens as hard as he can. _The current will tell you all you need to know_ , Mum said when he was younger. _Just listen, little love._

There’s a noise behind him and he slowly, warily looks over his shoulder, poised to flee. But there’s only a small marking on the wall, a rune of some kind, and he doesn’t mean to reach for it. He only knows he has when there’s a rush of water and he’s swept into a dark room, the wall closing behind him. 

There’s only one cage in this room, with—“A human?” he murmurs, letting the current pull him closer. The human is floating, eyes closed, limp in the middle of a cage much larger than Harry’s had been. Harry’s never seen a human so close before, but Professor Persephone had used her talent to show images. After a long moment, he turns away from the cage to explore the room, looking for a way out. He keeps darting glances back to the human, though, because—because—

Well, the human is _pretty_. He’s wrapped in what Harry knows is called clothes, except for his head and hands and feet (and feet are so _weird_ , Niall and him had laughed about them for weeks after learning about them), and he’s pretty like that shiny stone Harry found, the one that changes colors, or the pearl he’d won from Niall. His hair’s about the color of Harry’s, it looks like, and he really wants to see the human’s eyes. 

… _is_ he a boy human? Harry pauses where he’s poking at the wall and turns to give the human a long look. He doesn’t have a chest, but Gemma had fussed at him once for making assumptions. Don’t humans have some other distinction? He shakes his head and turns back to the wall, muttering, “Worry about it later, you guppie.” 

“You’re lookin’ at the wrong side,” someone says. Harry tries to stop moving but he accidentally drifts. “If you’re tryin’ to leave, I mean,” the voice continues. “D’ya even understand what I’m sayin’?” 

Well, that’s just rude. 

“Of course I do,” Harry huffs, twirling to glare at—

The human. Whose eyes are open, whose hands are gripping the bars, whose feet are pressed against the bottom of the cage. 

“Oh,” Harry mumbles, drifting back into the wall. The human is even prettier when he’s (?) awake. “Wait,” he says, pushing off the wall to swim back to the cage. “Are you a boy human? I know there’s some difference between boy and girl humans, but Niall got us sent out of class before that lesson and then everyone laughed instead of tellin’ us.” 

The human raises his(?) eyebrows. “I’m locked in a cage at the bottom of the ocean,” he (?) says. “And a fish-boy wants to know—” He (?) shakes his(?) head. Harry wonders if he should be offended at being called a fish-boy. “’m’a boy,” the human says. “I don’t suppose you’ve the key or a magic spell to get me out of here?” He tugs at the bars. “Before she comes back, I mean.” His eyes narrow. “Or are you one of hers?” 

“I just escaped,” Harry says, floating so that he and the boy are eye-to-eye. His eyes are—“The sky,” he murmurs, tilting his head. “That’s what humans call it, right?” 

The human looks at him. Harry backs up slightly before reaching to grab one of the bars so that he can stay; the current is stronger in this room, for some reason. 

Harry blinks because _the current is stronger._

“You said I was looking at the wrong side?” he demands. “Which is the right side?” 

.

They don’t talk while Harry slowly presses every odd mark on the wall, because Harry’s listening to the current. The water is singing something but in a language Harry doesn’t know. He wishes he had Robin’s talent. 

He knows that the witch’s magic must be involved because humans don’t have gills; they’re like the big ones, Professor Daria had said. They can’t breathe underwater. Harry likes watching when the big ones pass through. Robin sometimes takes him to the negotiations, and even the little big ones are enormous. They’re gentle, though. 

Finally, he presses against something that gives. He immediately pulls back because he can’t leave without the human. 

“What’s your name?” he asks, trying to think of some way to mark the spot so he can find it again. 

“I… I think it’s Louis,” the human says.

The water near his fingertips roils as heat begins to build. 

.

After he’s scorched a mark on the wall besides the odd rune, Harry swims back to the cage and settles near the bottom, holding both of his hands against the bars. As best he can tell, Louis is slightly smaller than him, so since the bars are bigger but slightly further apart than the ones from his cage, destroying two should work. 

“What are you doin’?” Louis asks, kicking off the floor so that he’s floating at the top of the cage. 

Harry doesn’t look up from his hands, glowing red now, melting the bars. “It’s called fire,” he says. “It’s a surface thing, isn’t it?” 

“Fire _underwater_?” Louis demands. “That’s impossible.” 

Shrugging, Harry shifts his hands up slightly. The hole is steadily growing and now that he’s stopped moving, he realizes how much his side hurts, where he tore his fin during his escape. He’s also very hungry and assumes it’s because of how much of his talent he’s using. Once the hole seems big enough, he pulls his hands away, trying to turn the fire off. 

Louis swims back down to investigate. Harry’s shaking his hands, straining to remember how he stopped it earlier and about to panic when a hand lands on his. His gaze flies up to Louis, who’s out of the cage and examining his hands. 

“That’s a handy trick,” Louis murmurs and Harry can’t help but laugh. “What’s your name, then, fish-boy?” he asks, gripping Harry’s wrist as the current tries to tug him away. 

“Harry,” he says, clutching at Louis’ hand. “Now, let’s get out of here and find Niall.” 

“I don’t know who Niall is,” Louis says, kicking his feet to keep up with Harry, “but that’s a better plan than any I’ve thought up.” 

Harry presses the rune, praying to Mother Deep that it leads to either Niall or a way out, and he keeps a tight grip on Louis as they’re pulled through the wall. 

.

Harry leads the way, peering into doorways and around corners. The current is tugging them along, so he hopes this is the way out, but he doesn’t want to leave without Niall. Somehow, Louis is still breathing despite being human, and Harry tries not to think of what will happen if the witch’s magic fails once they’re away from the cave. 

He hasn’t seen the witch at all since that day out in the garden, however long ago it was. Does she have others beside Zayn working for her, looking for him? 

“How big is this place?” Louis asks softly, catching himself with his free hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know,” Harry says. “Big.” The corridor breaks into two, so Harry stops, nibbling on his lip as he tries to decide which to take. 

“There’s more light that way,” Louis says, pointing towards the left. “Surely that means freedom?” 

“Might as well,” Harry says, squeezing Louis’ hand slightly. 

.

They swim and swim and swim some more, and Harry’s energy is flagging when he finally finds the room holding Niall and two others. “Niall!” Harry shouts, tugging Louis into the room. 

“Harry!” Niall shouts back. “Oh, thank the Mother.” Harry gives him a quick visual inspection and he thankfully seems unharmed. Louis swims over to check on the mermaid, who’s huddled on the floor of her cage. Harry pats Niall’s cage before checking on the remaining merboy. “Are you a human?” Niall asks Louis as Harry’s swimming back. To Harry he says, “They were both here when I woke up. Darian’s said a little but Fiona hasn’t spoke at all.” 

“Well, that’s wonderful,” Louis mutters before resuming his soft patter of soothing words, trying to get Fiona up. 

“Swim to the top,” Harry orders Niall, wrapping his hands around the base of two bars. 

“What are you doin’?” Niall asks while he obeys. 

It’s easy this time. Just as tiring as before but the fire jumps at his call, and while Niall mumbles, “That’s impossible,” the bars melt. 

Niall eels his way out of the cage and Harry goes to Darian, who watches silently, and then to Fiona with Niall sticking close. 

“You _are_ human,” Niall says. “Shouldn’t you be dead?” 

“Don’t be rude, Niall,” Harry says, tucking himself beside Louis. Fiona looks utterly terrified so Harry says gently, “I’m goin’ to melt the bars, sweetie. Can you float to the top of the cage, to stay safe? I don’t want to hurt you.” 

She presses against the bars on the far side of the cage. “She’s been here longer’n me,” Darian says; Harry glances back to watch him swimming for the doorway. “Hasn’t reacted to anythin’ in a long time.” 

“Well, we’re not leavin’ her,” Louis says, glancing up at Harry. “Just be careful with the fire, yeah?” 

Harry nods. He keeps his gaze on her frightened eyes (a dark brown-green, the same as her tail) as he wraps his fingers around the bars. She’s a tiny little thing though it isn’t clear how young she is. Darian was older than all of them, it looked like. 

“That snipefish just left us!” Niall hisses. 

“It’ll all be fine, Fiona,” Louis says. “We’ll get you out of here and get you home, sweetheart.” 

“Niall,” Harry murmurs, “go watch the door.” His anger obviously added to Fiona’s fear. “Almost there,” he says. “Fiona, you’re doing so well.” 

He pulls back from the hole, offering up a quick prayer to Mother Deep that Fiona willingly swims through. Instead, she huddles into herself even more. 

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Louis croons. “Let’s get you out of here, yeah?” She doesn’t react at all, so Louis says, “Harry, go join Niall.” 

Harry tilts his head. “What are you gonna do?” 

Louis gives him a quick glare. “I’m going to get her out of the cage. You, go to the door so you can escape if you need to.” 

All of Harry’s fins rise as he says, “I’m not leaving you!” 

Louis glares at him again before looking back at Fiona. “If you need to, you will,” he says. “Fiona, won’t you please come out? We have to get out of this place.” 

Harry is about to shout at Louis when Fiona uncurls a little, gazing up at them from behind her dark hair. She then darts through the hole and into Louis, babbling something in a language Harry doesn’t know. Louis wraps his arms around her, murmuring nonsense again, so Harry latches onto his wrist and swims as quickly as he can for the door. 

.

Niall takes the lead this time, while Harry tugs Louis along by one arm, his other holding onto Fiona.

They’re nearly at the end of the corridor, and the water tastes cleaner, when “Wait!” comes from behind them. Harry quickly whirls around, releasing Louis’ arm as he does, getting between him and Zayn, who’s hanging back, looking frightened. 

“Keep going,” Harry hisses to Louis, who pushes off the wall to catch up to Niall. Fiona’s face is tucked into Louis’ throat, her arms wrapped around his neck. “What?” he calls back to Zayn. 

“You can’t,” Zayn says. “She, she’ll find you wherever you go.” 

Harry’s eyes go to the rune on Zayn’s armfin, to the marking he’s too far away to see. “Did you try to escape?” 

“O’course I did,” Zayn laughs bitterly. “More’n once.” 

“Niall,” Harry says, “we need to check everyone for new markings.” He doesn’t take his gaze off of Zayn, not willing to trust him that far. “Check your fins,” he continues, “yours and Fiona’s.” 

“What?” he hears Louis mutter. “Fine, whatever.” 

“I don’t have anything new,” Niall announces after a few moments and Louis chimes in, “She’s clear.” Another moment and Louis says, “I’ve not been branded, either, far as I can tell.” 

“Stay right there,” Harry orders Zayn and waits for Zayn to nod before bringing his arms up to examine his armfins. His side fins, he uses his hands to check and his tail is clear, too. He darts a quick glance at Niall and Louis, waiting for him, and then he shakes his head as he turns back to Zayn. “I can try to break the rune,” he offers. “Not sure it’ll work but I can try.” 

How long has Zayn been here, been trapped? He clearly hates the witch. “You’d do that?” he asks. 

“Yeah,” Harry says. “It’ll probably hurt, though.” 

Zayn slowly swims forward, arms outstretched. 

.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Louis mutters, and Niall adds something Harry can’t make out, but he sets his fingers on the mark on Zayn’s right armfin, a paler purple than his tail. “Are there markings on any other fin?” he asks, calling up one tendril of his fire. It gets easier every time. 

He really needs to eat, soon. And rest. 

“No,” Zayn murmurs. 

He’d paid attention in most of his rune lessons, as they’re his father’s specialty and he’d wanted to impress him after his disappointing talent. The one carved into both of Zayn’s armfins isn’t one he recognizes. 

Runes are difficult to break. They require determination, and time, and quite a bit of sheer power. “Do you truly want to leave this place?” he asks, feeling his veins begin to heat. 

“Yes,” Zayn says. His voice shakes. “Please, I’ll do anythin’.” 

“Louis,” Harry calls, most of his focus on directing the fire, “cover Fiona’s ears.” He brings his gaze up to Zayn’s eyes. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he confesses. “All day, I’ve just been—improvising.” 

“Please,” Zayn repeats, trembling in Harry’s grasp. 

Harry looks back down at the runes as his fingers start to burn. 

.

Zayn, somehow, doesn’t scream, though Harry can see how much effort it is to hold back. But each rune shatters, and tendrils pour out, scarring his fins. He collapses forward, body trembling, and Harry catches him, spinning in place to hurry to the others. “We have to go,” he says, pushing past his own exhaustion. “She must’ve felt that, for sure.” 

Louis and Niall share a glance before Louis shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Fine,” he says. Because Harry’s arms are full, Niall latches onto Louis’ wrist this time and swims down the corridor, Harry following. 

There are a few more twists to the corridor but the water keeps tasting cleaner so Harry knows they must be going the right direction. When the way suddenly ends in a wall, Niall slumps down, dropping Louis’ wrist and turning to look back, but Harry looks for that same rune from Louis’ room. “There,” he says, swimming forward. “Niall, take Zayn.” 

“What?” Niall asks, even as he reaches for the mostly-unconscious mer. 

Harry slowly reaches out to touch the rune while Louis says, “Niall, you got him? Good, take my hand.” 

“What?” Niall repeats. 

Harry turns to grab Niall’s shoulder, catching Louis’ eye as he does, and Louis nods firmly. 

He’s so tired. He wonders how much fire there is, how much longer he can go, what will happen if the witch catches them again. 

“Harry,” Louis says. “Let’s go, love.” 

He presses the rune and the entire ocean crashes down on them. 

.

 

Totally lost after escape; get caught in a storm surge and wash up on shore—Zayn tries to use talent but it’s been such a long time he accidentally makes storm instead; when they start suffocating, Fiona’s talent turns her, Harry, Niall, and Zayn into humans (even though Niall could breathe)


End file.
